Ashish Nehra reveals being skeptical about Greg Chappell prior to his appointment

38-year old Indian T20 specialist, Ashish Nehra, who has been through different eras of Indian cricket in the last couple of decades, recently talked about the darkest phase of Indian cricket when Greg Chappell was appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian team.

Nehra claimed that he knew beforehand that things will spiral down for India after Chappell acquired the post of the Head Coach. Chappell and Sourav Ganguly were involved in an ugly public spat. Sachin Tendulkar, in his biopic, also revealed that the during Chappell’s tenure as the coach, the atmosphere in the dressing room was the worst he witnessed.

“I didn’t play much under Greg Chappell save two series in 2005 (in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe). Mujhe pahle series se hi maloom thaa yeh biryani, khichdi bannewali hain Greg ke under (I knew biryani would turn into Khichdi under Greg),” disclosed Ashish Nehra according to New Indian Express.

That said, the Delhi veteran was all praises for World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten, asserting that the Protean never interfered with MS Dhoni’s style of functioning.

“That’s where Gary (Kirsten) was such a superb coach. He discussed strategies with MS (Dhoni) but on the field, he never interfered with MS’ style of functioning. But I still believe Chappell could have been a terrific coach for juniors,” added the seamer who was an integral part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad campaign.

On MSD and Virat Kohli

The old warhorse of Indian cricket who would play his final match of his career on November 1, had a word or two for the likes of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. 

“For me, Ajay Jadeja and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are the two shrewdest cricketing brains I have ever interacted with. Look Virat’s career and captaincy are on auto-pilot mode right now. He knows what he is doing and leads by example. He doesn’t need gyaan (sermons) but support which Ravi gives him in abundance,” concluded Nehra.